This invention pertains to simulated racket devices for developing and conditioning certain muscles and tendons of a player's hand, wrist and arm for increased proficiency in executing fundamental strokes of racket sports such as tennis. Utilization of simulant racket devices in accordance with the invention disclosed herein will not only increase a player's dynamic muscle strength, but will enhance development of psychomotor skills required for correct racket manipulation and ball striking during game play.
Prior patents disclose conventionally constructed rackets having supplemental weights attached thereto for developing, toning or loosening those muscles particularly employed for swinging a racket smoothly and forcefully. These previously known devices may have weights attached by one means or another to the perimeter of a racket head as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,777 issued to Held, U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,285 issued to Petitti, U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,433 issued to Althoff, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,560 issued to Higdon. Attachment of weights to conventional rackets in the handle or throat area is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,021 issued to Shaw, U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,721 issued to Faleck, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,052,061 and 4,005,864 issued to Stewart, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,893 issued to Evans.
Each of the rackets disclosed in the cited patents is entirely conventional apart from the means for attaching a weight or weights thereto; and, each has as a paramount object the continued utility of the racket for actual game play. To this end, most of these rackets have specially designed weight attachment means which permit a player to strike a ball with the weights in place. See, for example, the head-mounted attachments of Held, Althoff, and Higdon; and, the throat-mounted attachments of Faleck, Stewart and Evans. While the Petitti and Shaw patents show that their rackets are conventionally constructed and remain playable once their weights are detached, both feature weight attachment means that are to be removed after completion of warm up exercise which involves racket swinging without striking a ball.
The quintessential characteristic of each of the weight-bearing rackets cited hereinabove is that the racket must remain playable once the weights and/or the weight attachment means are dismantled from the racket. This general requirement that a racket serve both as a playable racket and as a weighted exercise, practice, or warmup device is understandable where a player owns but a single racket or wishes to use his exercise racket during actual play. However, hewing strictly to a requirement for convertibility for such dual racket use produces these drawbacks:
1. While the weight attachment means ought to be easily disconnected from the racket, it must, of necessity, have a mechanically positive attachment thereto to avoid unintended, perhaps dangerous, separation when the racket and weight are swung with great force or are suddenly arrested. Moreover, many known racket weighting devices are readily adjustable, or even elastically expansible, to allow their conformation to different portions of the same racket or to rackets of differing shapes and sizes. These conflicting design considerations with respect to previously known weight attachment means tend to produce weighted rackets which are often unhandy to convert, unsafe, or both.
2. Modern tennis rackets are lightly constructed and usually weigh less than one pound. Accordingly, the aggregate amount of weight that can be attached to any playable racket is limited by the ability of the racket to support an added dynamic Load without breaking, bending or suffering other structural damage. Moreover, maximum racket weighting is limited by the strength of the weight attachment means itself and by its ability to avoid displacement, distortion or total disengagement with respect to the racket.
3. The development of weighting devices, other than those used with standard rackets, has been largely thwarted to the detriment of players-, coaches and training professionals who need better, more specialized devices to improve present racket sport development programs and training technics.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,260 issued to Gust discloses a weighted exerciser in the form of a tennis racket having its strings removed to accommodate a weight-bearing shaft attached to the racket head in alignment with the longitudinal centerline of the racket handle. In keeping with a stated object of this invention, Gust suggests that weights be applied to the tennis racket without changing its basic construction. Therefore, no matter how cumbersome it might be to do so, it appears that Gust anticipates that his weighted shaft may be dismantled from the head and the racket restrung to restore it to playable condition when it is not used for exercising purposes.
Another general shortcoming of the prior art relevant to weighted rackets results from the single-minded endeaver of inventors of previously known exercise rackets to provide means for attaining general muscular development of a player's arm without addressing certain racket handling and positioning requirements which are essential to good play, but are not necessarily dependent on muscular strength and arm speed. For example, in tennis there is no known training or conditioning device which effectively develops an ability to address and stroke a ball with the flat face or strings of the racket head held in an essentially vertical attitude. Unless this vital racket head orientation is learned and remembered, a player will find it impossible to control the altitude and length of travel of a struck ball with accuracy and consistancy. Racket head verticality is also an essential constituant of the basic forehand stroke which derives great power from drawing the racket strings upwardly as the ball is struck at full racket speed to create overspin or topspin. Likewise, an effective backhand stroke anticipates racket verticality in order to impart to the ball the full impact force created by the player's dynamic muscle strength. Obviously, deviations from racket vertically are purposely made to elevate or depress the travel path of a ball as play may require. However, the desired degree of deviation is nevertheless selected and implemented with reference to vertical racket orientation that is known and remembered by the player.
In view of the aforenoted shortcomings of conventionally weighted rackets, it is believed that a specialized weight conditioning device is needed and should include the following structural and operational features and advantages:
1. The device should have a handle and frame that can be gripped and manipulated in a manner that simulates a conventional racket. Otherwise, the configuration and dimensions of the device need not be constrained by conventional racket parameters.
2. The device should have the capacity to serve the dual purposes of developing beneficial muscularity in the player's hand, wrist and arm and of establishing his sense of racket head position in space, particularly head verticality.
3. The frame portion of the device should include integrally formed or securly attached housing means adapted to receive and capture therein one or more weights.
4. The aggregate weight of the device to be supported by the player's wrist and arm should be made incrementally variable by some ready means such as different sized weights, different weight materials or by the substitution of entire weight assemblies having different minimum and maximum weight capacities.
5. A pair of spaced, weight-receiving housings should be located on the frame of the device at the same radial distance from the longitudinal axis of the handle. The weight placed in the housings may be made unequal so that the force of gravity acting on the weights in each housing will create a resultant moment tending to rotate the handle unless and until the weights are vertically aligned. The hand which grips the handle of the simulated racket will sense either a torque produced by some angular deviation from vertical of the unequal weights or, alternatively, an achieved state of rotational equilibrium wherein the weights are vertically aligned and produce no torque tending to rotate the racket about the handle axis. By this means, the person gripping the handle can sensibly perceive whether the frame is vertical and, if not vertical, he will be signalled if he adjusts the frame toward a more nearly vertical position.